


Highwind Catastrophe

by thelastpunch



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Disasters, Fluff and Crack, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2181210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastpunch/pseuds/thelastpunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Yuffie decides she wants to overcome her problem with motion sickness, Cid is left with the responsibility of helping her. The pilot is not only on the edge of insanity (via. Yuffie) but also encounters other problems along the way. A strong storm leaves the Highwind damaged and the passengers stranded within it, its up to Cid to fix the problem once again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Highwind Catastrophe

Cid was not in a good mood, and that was putting it lightly.

Yuffie was once again asking a million different questions about his beloved ship’s controls; he swore she was talking at a rate that even she couldn’t keep up with in that birdbrain of hers.

His incompetent co-pilot screamed out of fear for the fiftieth time that day and the dishevelled blonde pressed a dozen buttons to prevent the foreseen crash. The young ninja immediately questioned his button pressing, her hands on her petite hips and eyes glowing. She was wrapped in at least four emergency blankets, hair dripping and clinging to her face as she once again complained about the vicious storm outside. He loved the childish ninja, but jeez did she annoy the hell out of him sometimes.

‘Cid this’ and ‘Cid that’, he was tired of being blamed for the weather.

_She_ was the one who wanted to get over her motion sickness, Cid reminded himself.

_She_ was the one who recommended going out for some fresh air for _her_ motion sickness.

And most importantly, _she_ was the one who dragged him into all this mess.

“Shiva’s tits, do you ever stop?”

“Huh?” The ninja’s head turned in her innocent confusion.

 

Cid sighed and pushed his young co-pilot out of the way, strangling the handles and imagining Yuffie’s neck in its place. He smirked at the thought.

The co-pilot staggered, eyes wide and dark hair roused as he gripped the non-existent wheel in front of him. The boy was gaping for air like a fish on land, staring at the flashes of lightning and jumping at the claps of thunder.

“Your like a damn dog you know that.”

“Hey, no fair old man! You’re the only smelly dog on this airship. Although, I did see one of your _professional_ co-workers shake like one after coming in from the rain. Disgusting.”

Yuffie stuck out her tongue just as Cid hatched a plan, a huff of amusement leaving his lips with the smoke of his soggy cigarette. The ship lurched as Cid twisted the steering violently to the left, his motions casual as he stubbed out his smoke and placed it behind his ear.

“Oh shi-”

A small pile of flesh and blankets stumbled on the deck, rolling and coming to an abrupt halt with the opposing wall. The co-pilot winced at the sound as he finally came out of his dazed state.

Yuffie slapped a hand over her mouth and made a noise that was only recognised too quickly.

“What a shame, you were doing so well too...”

To Cid, the noise of her gagging was much better than having to listen to her incessant complaining.

Dripping wet and without her stolen blankets, Yuffie desperately ran into the hallway where she knocked over all who were in her way until she reached the bathroom.

 

Cid refocused his attention on the storm flashing through the front windows; that was, until yet another distraction blocked his perfect view.

“What do you want Tuesti?”

Reeve was standing dignified in his long blue coat, barely affected by the smiling cat on his shoulders. Cid had almost forgotten he was on board, the engineer had locked himself away to do paperwork whilst on their trip. Cid was determined to think it was to get away from Yuffie’s barking, surely.

“Nice to see you too Cid, how have you been?”

A grumble was his only response, followed by another large clash of thunder and lightning above them.

“It’s getting quite bad out there, should we be flying in this?”

“You going to question my flying abilities too?

A hearty chuckle met his ears and Cid couldn’t help but smirk.

‘The bastard really did lock himself in his room to get away from her, and I thought she was childish…”

 

“Perhaps Reeve is right.”

Cid jumped so violently at the newest voice that Reeve started laughing again, his deep and refined voice feeling well out of place in the Highwind.

“Fucking Gaia Vince! How the hell do you walk around with that stupid metal boot on your bloody foot but never make a damn sound?”

The man in red shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms, a small smirk playing at his lips all the while.

“It’s a skill.”

“Yeah, yeah I can see that.”

He turned back to Reeve, “And this storm is nothing the Highwind can’t handle.”

The ship lurched once again and Cid grimaced; this was not helping his case. Vincent stood at his shoulder looking at the same dark expanse that Cid saw; their surroundings were so dense with black clouds you could hardly see the ground below.

Cait Sith bounced from his creator’s shoulder straight onto the railing of the upper deck to get a better view.

“Doesn’t look good Lassies.”  
“Reeve you better shut your damn cat up before I throw him out one of the emergency doors.”

“Someone’s a bit moody.”

“If someone says one more damn thing I’ll-“

The following clap of thunder was far to loud for anyone to hear the last of Cid’s sentence, but he was definitely rattling on just as much as Yuffie had been beforehand. The loud clang of metal on metal hit everyone’s ears as another harsh series of thunder and lightning surrounded the ship.

 

Vincent made to grab Cait Sith, who was dangerously balancing on the circuit board. Reeve was sprawled on the floor, felled by the next direct hit to the ship. Every loose item, a coffee mug, a book and multiple cigarette packets, clattered to the port side.

No one could distinguish between Cid’s swearing and the surrounding disaster, but when Cid announced he was landing the Highwind, there was a definite chorus of sighing relief.

The Highwind slowly descended to the ground, and for once their surroundings could be seen through the windows.

“Oh shit.”

 

The rain was pelting at an almost horizontal angle towards the glass, trees were snapped from their roots and the lightning illuminated the lonely field in which they had landed.

The noise had died down somewhat, but there were many other problems that came rushing into Cid’s mind, filling his head with a tumble of thoughts instead.

Reeve had managed to get up the small flight of stairs to where his companions were standing.

“Is this the Kalm lands?”

“I don’t know, the tracking system is down.”

In one fluid movement they all looked down to the circuit board; flashing red lights and warnings were all the eye could see.

“What the hell is going on out here old man?”

Yuffie slid through the door, her signature shuriken slung over her back and all signs of nausea replaced with pure confusion.

“Something’s wrong with the ship.”

Yuffie groaned loud enough to challenge the thunder above her.

“I knew this would happen, this is all your fault with your stupid pride! ‘No Yuffie, we don’t need to land the ship while _I’m_ here’. Stupid.”  
“What did you say to me girly?”

Reeve tried as he might to stop the fight that was sure to erupt, he stepped in the middle of his steaming friends and yelled as loud as he could.

“Quiet!”

Vincent stood as still as ever with Cait Sith on his shoulders, seemingly amused by the scene.

“Don’t shush me! If this ship is stranded then we’re talking about my wellbeing here! Knew this was going to happen...”

“Its your own damn stubbornness that made us go out in this weather to begin with!”

“You said it was okay!”

 

Reeve rolled his eyes and returned to his only calm friend, taking Cait from his shoulders to sit on his own. Like any other cat, he seemed to live for attention from those around him.

Reeve smiled, “perhaps I shouldn’t have made this a little WRO excursion after all. Oh well, let’s see what the problem is shall we?”

Vincent and Reeve turned to the circuit board, ignoring the screaming duo behind them and pushing the littered cigarettes off the screens.

“Looks like there’s something wrong with one of the transmitters… An antenna down, and some other external damage too. Nothing we can’t fix.”

“In this weather?”

“Perhaps not…”

Cid abandoned his argument to see what was happening to his beloved ship.

“What’s going on over here?”

Vincent spoke up while Reeve fiddled with the controls in front of him.

“Looks like you have some external damage, Captain.”

“That’s pretty damn obvious Vin.”

Reeve shook his head, pointing to various figures and buttons displaying the ship’s status.

“Most of it’s to do with the transmitter located on the outside of the ship, and the antennas associated with it. Being an engineer does come in handy occasionally.”

“God damn it, someone’s going to have to go out there and fix the damn thing again.”

“Again?”

Cid ignored Vincent’s inquiry and turned to Yuffie, planning revenge in his head. The young girl shook her head, displacing water onto the men standing before her.

“Nuh-uh, not me.”

Cid looked her over in her dishevelled state.

“Even I’m not so cruel as to send a kid like you up there, you wouldn’t know what to do anyways. I’ll go.”

“I’ll help.”

Reeve nodded at the cloaked man and turned back to the circuit boards spread out beneath him.

“I’ll tell you what to do from the external microphone then.”

 

Vincent stood in front of the emergency exit and waited for Cid as he gathered a raincoat and scarf from one of the pilot desks. The wind and rain pounded the floor once the door was open, Vincent made sure to go first to shield his friend and help him onto the ladder leading to the top of the ship.

“Gaia Vince wait up, I’m not a freakishly strong superhuman like you are, you know?”

Cid’s raincoat hood thrashed behind him, rain pounded his face, and the railing for the ship wasn’t helping him to stay particularly steady either. It was a harsh fifteen-minute trip to the top of the ship and once they reached the top Vincent grabbed Cid by the arms to hold him steady on the roof.

A loud crash of thunder overhead startled the blonde into slipping on the smooth surface of the roof, sending him onto his back with Vincent crushed underneath him. Vincent’s red cloak was whipping in front of his face, blurring his vision as he fought to catch his winded breath.

“Shit, sorry Vince. Won’t happen again.”

The wind pushed Cid from his companion, sliding down the roof of the ship and nearly off the side before Vincent caught his hand.

“Cid, maybe you should go back down. Its too dangerous.”

Vincent pulled up the blonde from the side of the ship, making sure to hold onto Cid’s shoulders lighter with his gauntlet than his human hand.

“Don’t be stupid,” Cid yelled over the wind, “I have a flying, killing machine to protect me. If we fall you’ll just scoop us right back up again.”

Vincent wasn’t so sure, if they were to fall there was a small chance he would be able hold on to Cid let alone summon Chaos and fly out safely.

He nodded anyway.

 

“ ~ Hopefully you both made it up safely, I’ll start relaying instructions now so listen carefully! ~”

Reeve’s voice bellowed around the ship from the microphone speakers, just loud enough to hear.

“ ~ Okay, first you need to find the transmission box, it should be near the broken antenna. ~ ”

“I know where the damn thing is, I built this ship.”

Cid grumbled as he slowly made his way over to a small tower of metal built into the ship.

“Should be in here somewhere…”

“I thought you knew where it was?”

“Didn’t pay a hell of a lot of attention to electrics, Shera did most of that.”

Cid pried open a panel in the ship and Vincent pulled him back just in time as the metal quickly flew away into the storm.

Even though he was starting to get slightly anxious, Cid reassured his partner.

“See, I’m fine with you here Vin.”

“ ~ Okay! Now you need to see if al the wires are connected, and if so, then make sure all the switches are on. ~ ”

“This just seems like general electronic shit now, nothing to worry about.”

Vincent wondered who Cid was trying to reassure at that moment, he doubted it was him.

Cid checked that all the switches were on and that the wires were connected, finding them in original condition.

“The fuck do we do now?”

“ ~ Nothing has changed down here, so assuming your still alive up there, you’ll need to check the actual antenna. Be careful. ~ ”

Cid grumbled under his breath, revising the decision to come up here in such weather. He turned to look back at Vincent, taking in his pale, rain-drenched face and deciding to get the job done quickly.

“Okay Vince, the antenna is up there.”

He pointed atop the metal structure they were currently leaning against.

“You’ll have to climb onto my shoulders and do what Reeve says.”

“Why me?”

“Oh real noble aren’t ya?”

Vincent allowed a small chuckle as Cid decided his raincoat was completely useless and threw it into the wind.

“Because you’re a smaller build than me genius! Now get up there!”

“If you say so...”

 

Cid slowly stood up, jamming his feet into the recently opened panel and hugging the small metal tower. Vincent used his human hand to steady himself onto Cid’s back and climb higher until he was standing on his shoulders.

“Thank Gaia that at the bottom of this metal thing is your boot. Thought you might detach my shoulder with it or something.”

Vincent ignored Cid’s comment as he searched for the antenna; thankfully he found it wasn’t too far away. The metal wire was bent and smoking and he assumed it had been struck by lightning during the storm.

“Aren’t these thing supposed to have lightning rods?”

Cid shifted Vincent’s weight on his shoulders, trying to pull the deep red cloak out of his face and look up his back to see what was happening.

“Huh?”

“Nothing…”

 

Vincent shuffled forward slightly, his metal gauntlet sinking into the metal of the ship like butter to keep him steady on Cid’s shoulders.

“Damn it Vin! You move any more and I wont be able to reach you!”

The gunman slid forward inch by inch until Cid was using his hands as groundwork for Vincent’s feet. They were both wobbling very dangerously in the wind as Vincent reached out with his right hand and straightened the antenna as much as he could.

“ ~ That’s it! Everything that was needed to get us up and moving is fixed; try to make it back inside in one piece. ~ ”

Cid grumbled, thinking that the smug engineer deserved to be pushed out into the rain himself.

 

Vincent unhooked his gauntlet from the shredded metal beneath it and let himself drop back onto Cid. There was a yell of surprise as he fell onto Cid’s chest with a thump and sat up casually, completely aware of the man beneath him but not particularly caring at this point.

“Fuck,” Cid coughed to clear his windpipe of inhaled rain, “this isn’t the time for payback Vince.”

Vincent grabbed onto Cid’s forearm before the man could question it and lunged himself off the roof towards the metal ladder on the side of the ship.

If Vincent hadn’t been so distracted he would have outwardly laughed at Cid’s reaction and exclaims as they fell down the side of the ship. Vincent grabbed onto one of the last rungs and swung a shocked Cid through the emergency door before jumping in himself.

Cid was breathing heavily on the floor, short hair matted and clinging to his forehead. He didn’t care how violently he was shivering once he realised he was missing his packet of cigarettes.

Yuffie strolled over casually and stood above him with a pleased grim on her face.

“Would you like a blanket?”

Cid shut his eyes slowly.

He was going to kill her.


End file.
